SUMMARY
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MANILA, Philippines – The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has ordered with finality the 90-day suspension of alleged plunderer and detained senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr as a senator.
The Sandiganbayan’s First Division denied on Wednesday, September 24, the appeal of Revilla for the court to reconsider its initial suspension order.
Revilla’s motion for reconsideration lacks merit, the court resolved.
Justice Efren dela Cruz, who penned the resolution, wrote that the court is “bound to issue an order of preventive suspension” as “a matter of course” whenever a charge is deemed valid.
The court upheld in the same 17-page resolution the validity of the plunder and graft charges against Revilla over the alleged misuse of his Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) or pork barrel in connivance with alleged mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.
The suspension order and final judicial determination of probable cause also covers Revilla’s co-accused and aide Richard Cambe.
Cambe was a long-time aide of Revilla’s father, former senator Ramon Revilla Sr.
Revilla, Cambe, and 3 others are accused of diverting Revilla’s PDAF to ghost projects of bogus non-governmental organizations ran by Napoles.
Senate President Franklin Drilon earlier expressed immediate compliance to the final order from the court, as in the cases of pork scam principal accused senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada.
Purpose of suspension
Earlier, Revilla assailed his suspension by arguing that it “deprives the Filipino people of their representation in Senate” and is only meant to harrass him.
The court instead sided with the prosecution on the matter.
The prosecution argued, the resolution read, that “the interest of the State is always paramount and its right to redress for the wrong committed against it is far more imperative than any resulting prejudice it may cause to the accused and his supporters” over the suspension.
Public officers are suspended pending their trial not as a form of punishment, since they have yet to be convicted.
The suspension is meant to disable them from compromising the integrity of the prosecution by using their positions to influence the trial, intimidate witnesses, and commit other forms of malfeasance. – Rappler.com
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